Into that Vast Expanse

GM's log of second session

The shore party returned aboard New Radius with geological and biological samples from the planet dubbed Arck. Choir-Leader Archis, who had been working with the remote survey crew by aiding their auspexes, indicated that there were no facilities anywhere on the planet’s surface that could produce refined promethium of that quality. Lord-Captain Na-Rami decided to land on the planet with a more substantial force and begin searching for the promethium’s source.

Rocky determined that the source of the promethium was an upwelling deep underwater, and Hexus wanted to don void-suits and swim down to investigate. But Archis interrogated a xeno’s mind and learned that the crew were not the only humans on the planet after all—the amphibious creature was aware of legends of humans in the dry mountains to the northeast.

Hexus piloted the luxury Aquila Lander in that direction, escorted by a wing of fighters. The fighters’ auspex array revealed a twisted hunk of metal embedded in one of the mountain valleys—which on closer inspection was revealed to be part of a downed frigate. Human forms surrounded the structure, clamoring for attention.

Na-Rami ordered that a communication micro-bead be dropped into the crowd, and once the humans activated it they began to sing Imperial hymns. Satisfied that the humans were uncorrupted, first the lead fighter pilot and then the Aquila Lander were lowered into the crowd. Over steady Imperial chants, the lander doors opened to reveal the New Radius crew impressively arrayed in full uniform.

The humans were descendants of the survivors of the crash of His Will Be Done, a Rogue Trader frigate of the Vestralis dynasty that had gone missing 500 years earlier. Their leader, Maximillican, was very grateful for the rescue. He indicated that the other half of the broken ship (bearing the bridge, promethium reserves, and trophy hold) had fallen into the nearby sea.

Since the downed ship’s logs indicated that there were artifacts and riches to be had in that section of the ship, Na-Rami ordered them recovered from the sunken wreck.